How hard is the water in Power County, ID?
13.8 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Power County, ID is 236 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 13.8 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 210 samples at 51 sites between 1990 and 2018, drawn from groundwater wells, which is what most taps and private wells in the county draw on.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 11.3 and 18.3 gpg. The whole middle of that range gives the same answer, so a test of your own tap is unlikely to change it. Confidence in the county figure: high (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 13.8 gpg a softener pays its way here. Before you buy, check the quoted unit's grain capacity against the sizing table below, and ask whether it regenerates on demand, which uses less salt than a timer. Call your utility for its own report if you are on city water.
More on sizing a softener for your household.
From 8.1 to 80.6 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Power County was 139.5 mg/L and the hardest 1,380 mg/L, a 10-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 18.3 gpg and the bottom quarter below 11.3 gpg.
Wells 13.8 gpg, rivers and lakes 9.3 gpg
210 groundwater samples from 51 wells put the median at 236 mg/L. 6 surface samples from 1 sites put it at 158.5 mg/L. In Power County the wells come out 4.5 gpg harder. Groundwater sits in contact with rock for years and picks up calcium and magnesium as it goes, so wells usually read harder. A utility here that draws from the river can deliver noticeably different water from a private well next door.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 301 lb of salt a year (8 bags of 40 lb, about $54), and roughly 2,346 gallons of regeneration water. Installed, most units run $1,000 to $4,500; spread over 15 years with salt, that is about $154 a year.
Sizing at 13.8 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 828 | 24,000 | 101 lb |
| 2 | 1,656 | 24,000 | 201 lb |
| 4 | 3,312 | 24,000 | 403 lb |
| 6 | 4,968 | 40,000 | 604 lb |
Power County against the rest of Idaho
Among the 44 Idaho counties with data, Power County is number 9 of 44 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 65% of counties.
Softest in Idaho: Valley County at 1.3 gpg. Hardest: Caribou County at 23 gpg. Closest to Power County: Jerome County (13.6), Bonneville County (13.4), Cassia County (14.4).